Saturday 18th of July 2009 09:51:42 AM

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This person needs 3 or more reviews on the site for their scores to start counting.

What a great surprise. I was in the neighborhood and slipped into this place to try it out. They had roughly 12 pulls with some unique offerings and a large bottle selection. Two nights a week they have stand up comedy.

The patrons were very friendly (although most were drinking average commercial beers). The owner was behind the bar and very friendly. He is really trying to keep a superior craft brew menu. If this place was closer to where I live, it would be a regular haunt.

Friday 10th of July 2009 10:11:42 AM

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There were no expectations when I walked in, but I was really impressed by this place. It's clear that the owner and staff are really into craft beer, and have gone to great lengths to create a unique establishment.

Unique is an understatement...just look for an 8 ft. cigar puffing zombie on the road, and pull over there. Inside, past a small cigar and curio shop, under a hanging Chimay sign, there's a room with a U-shaped bar. Further back there were some tables and small outdoor patio with hanging beer signs and flowers. If Svengoolie was a regular here, I wouldn't be surprised...there was a menangerie of oddities, from the leopard print on the wall, tiny mounted game trophies, a painting of frankenstein, rock and roll art, and a motorcycle parked on top of the to-go cooler. It was a psychotronic cult movie come to life as a bar in Berwyn.

Frank was the bartender, and he was great. Really friendly and full of information about beer. He offered a couple draft samples right off the bat, and chatted about their selection. They serve up 6 different 10" pizzas for $8.75, but that's it for food. Sausage & jalapeño was tasty.

They want to expand their draft lines and coolers in the near future he said, maybe adding 10 more taps. Currently there were 11 taps and maybe 50 bottled beers. They had a draft list with descriptions and ABV listed. DFH 90, NB Dandelion, SN Bigfoot 08, DT, St. Bernardus Wit & Abt 12, Unibroue Ephemere, and several others. No bottle list, but they were visible in the coolers behind the bar. Strong Belgian trappist focus, full line of Chimay & St. B, Orval, Urthel Hop-It & Samaranth, Duvel, and several others. US craft was in another cooler, they had Founders, DFH, New Holland Dragons Milk, a total of about 30 US crafts. I was told they rotate 3 Floyds drafts, but didn't offer any bottles currently. FFF's aesthetic would certainly fit right in here.

A few in the crowd had craft beers, but more were probably drinking macros or mixed drinks. People were young & old, an eclectic mix. The jukebox had lots of rock classics, with some punk & blues thrown in, with XM filling in when it was not in use. They host live music and weekly comedy nights on wednesdays. I left with a couple bottles of hot sauce from the shop in the front, they had a pretty good assortment, and also a humidor if that's your thing.

Highly recommended if you are passing by on I-55.